


Undercover

by NarutoDays (DAYS8)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bodyguard, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Minor Original Character(s), Mutual Pining, NaruHina 2020, Romance, Sexual Tension, Shameless Smut, Undercover Missions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:07:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23604292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DAYS8/pseuds/NarutoDays
Summary: Naruto and Hinata join the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire's Daimyo.But not really.Their mission is to smoke out the rat among them who's selling political secrets to insurgents, while making sure the other Guardians don't figure them out.Neither can tell when their acting became so convincing.(A fake relationship canon-divergent au.)Written for NaruHina 2020 March: Bodyguard Theme
Relationships: Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 98
Kudos: 226





	1. Introduction: Motives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I finished one story, and felt I deserved to start another one xD
> 
> This is just a poor excuse to write a smutty fake relationship au lolll. The idea's been on my mind for almost a year now. I really wanted to call this story "Undercover Lovers," but that sounded really cheesy xD Btw this story is hardly plot.
> 
> Please enjoy the NaruHina :)

She’s called for a mission at an expected time, about 9:00 in the morning, rather than some odd hour of the night. Whatever it is, it must not be a real emergency.

He uses the rooftops to get to the Tower, as is his preferred route these days, rather than get caught up in conversations with groups of giggling girls.

She enters the Sixth Hokage’s office, surprised to see that Shino is not already there before her.

He makes his way through the hall, wondering who he’ll be partnered with, or if he’ll have a partner at all.

“He never knocks,” Kakashi laments, and right on time, the door swings open.

He excitedly wonders aloud, “Who am I working-”

She honestly can’t remember the last time she worked with Naruto. Their skills are too similar. Close combat. Sensory. And he’s simply too good to need anyone with the same specialties as him.

“Hinata! You’re my partner this time?! This is going to be great!” He’s not going to fight over stupid things like he does with Sakura, Kiba, and Ino. He’s not going to be overworked with Lee and Tenten, who are both used to a level of workouts that no one else has been conditioned to enjoy. He’s not going to be creeped out by Shino.

Shikamaru’s his usual partner.

But Shikamaru’s been out on a ridiculously long mission.

“It must be a tough one if I’m partnering with Hinata,” he casually observes.

She doesn’t say it out loud, but obviously, if Naruto’s on the job, the mission must actually be some kind of emergency. A or...S-rank. For Naruto to say that something’s going to be tough...

“Yes,” Kakashi starts, hands folding together, lackadaisical attitude turning serious. “An extended S-rank. Estimated for a month or longer.”

* * *

They kneel before the Fire Daimyo, officially pledging their loyalties to a man who’s never known mud on his cheeks, never seen a comrade fall, perhaps never even broken a sweat in his life. Yet somehow he carries far more political clout than their own Hokage.

 _Not our Hokage_ , Hinata corrects herself. Or at least, she needs to pretend that she’s no longer a shinobi of Konoha.

They’re Guardians now.

On paper and in the assessing eyes of their new peers, their abilities and bodies belong to the Daimyo, to fight and protect this leader with their lives.

She can feel their judgement boring into the top of her head. Unlike Naruto, whose reputation precedes him, she’s often underestimated. Small. The only kunoichi in the room. She’ll be tested in some way by the others. But she’ll do whatever it takes to gain the other Guardians’ trust, and, eventually, smoke out the conspirator among them.

“Uzumaki Naruto. Hyuuga Hinata,” the Fire Daimyo addresses.

They stand at his call.

“Starting from today, you no longer serve just the interests of Konoha. You are now shinobi of the Land of Fire. You lay down your lives for me, you lay down your lives for the entire country.”

In the corner of her sharp vision, she can see Naruto _bristling_.

It’s no secret that Naruto has never held high regard for this man, whose decisions did very little to help during _and_ after the war, who refused to fund Sakura’s mental health initiative for children, who seems to always defer to the loudest voice in the room. 

If he could, he would tell the daimyo to stick his little speech up his ass. But he can’t fail, here, now, _already_ , only a few minutes into their undercover mission. Kakashi made it a point to make clear that he didn’t have to pretend to be anyone but himself...but that he still had to show some level of respect to their political leader. While they’re out here in the capitol, the daimyo is their only contact to Konoha, the only one who knows of this charade.

After all, he commissioned them.

The reasoning being that the daimyo didn’t want to stir distrust among the remaining Guardians. They had already caught two informants on their own. Morale among the rest was high now.

But the daimyo had suspicions that there might be another hiding among them. Rather than having them turn against each other, he decided that this was an outside job.

And if this man fails to make a good decision in every other area of being a leader, Naruto needs to make sure that at least in _this_ , _they_ do not fail.

Failure could mean a coup d’etat.

Civil War when the rest of the shinobi world is at peace.

They can’t let that happen.

“Your accomplishments and track records in your career thus far have marked you as the strongest and most loyal to our nation. You join the ranks of the most elite shinobi in not just the country, but in the entire world. Here you stand among the greatest, and your names will forever be remembered for your service to me.”

Hinata keeps her face placid, not difficult at all for a Hyuuga.

She can only hope that Naruto’s doing the same.

But based on the furrowed brow of one of the Guardians, who steps forward, holding the branded waistcloths out to them, she can deduce that Naruto’s not doing a very good job hiding his thoughts.

They take the waistcloths, tying them on in the same way as the others.

The kanji for Fire emblazoned on their hip, meant to announce their status.

It’s a recognition that neither of them need, but Hinata knows she can’t ignore its meaning.

The ten Guardians who stand lined up before them, gathered from across the country, really _are_ the best, on par with at least her own skills, and needing to take down even just one of them qualifies as an S-rank mission.

They haven’t even left the main office yet when four of the Guardians who were meant to show them the ins-and-outs of the administrative buildings turn them into an empty hall.

“So you think you’re better than us?” snarls one, a bulky man by the name of Geiiro.

“They’re Konoha shinobi. What did you expect?” laughs Tacchi, his pretty features marred by a long, raised scar cutting through the side of his head. “Konoha’s Hero, Saviour of this World,” he sneers. “It’s all gone to his head.”

Naruto holds his tongue. It was his mistake to not hide his dislike of the old man. These men are not his enemies.

At least not right now.

Geiiro huffs, “If you have no interest in being out here in the real world, then run back to your ‘hidden’ village.”

Naruto raises a brow at that. He didn’t know that that’s how the outside villages see Konoha. But he knows they suffered damages just as much from the war, if not moreso. And they don’t pledge the same prided allegiance to their country’s Hokage.

If they want to rant, he’ll listen. He’ll learn.

The tallest of the group, Eizan, steps forward, cocking his head, eyes trailing over her. “And what about the Hyuuga princess?”

They both tense.

She expected to be tested, but not quite so soon.

“So it’s true what they say. For you to have accepted a position here…you were replaced by your younger sister,” murmurs Hukukane. He stands in the back, hands on his hips like a casual observer.

_Like a long-range fighter._

She doesn’t care about her sister taking the helm for the clan. She hasn’t cared about that in a long time. But she pays careful attention to the men before her, their formation, their “relaxed” stances.

_Was this planned from the start?_

“So she’s trying to prove her worth to her clan here?” Eizan laughs, earning smirks from the others. “Pretty little princesses should play at home-”

Her eyes flash up to his, just as his hand grabs at her chin.

“Don’t you _fucking_ touch her!” Naruto’s rasengan is only centimeters from Eizan’s chest.

The warping chakra is close enough to exert the pressure of a fist pushing against his skin. 

He glares furiously at Eizan, even as the edges of his senses tingle at the knowledge that the others have taken on their own cautionary stances. “She doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone!”

“Naruto-kun,” she tries, as calmly as she can, hoping she has just enough force in her voice to remind him to stay calm, too.

But Naruto doesn’t budge. If he doesn’t make a point _now_ , then what else might they do to her? Eleven men and only Hinata? Why aren’t there any other women in this group?

It’s just another reason to hate the current daimyo.

“So that really is why he’s here,” Hukukane interrupts.

“Yeah,” Eizan agrees, frowning at the jutsu threatening to burst a hole in his body.

“We all have reasons to be here,” Geiiro says. “For us, not part of Konoha’s shinobi system, this is a steady job. Money to send home to our families.”

Naruto reluctantly turns his attention to him. But he doesn’t back down.

“Money for my younger siblings,” Tacchi adds on.

“I send money home for my wife’s aging parents,” Hukukane continues. “Believe us, we don’t like the daimyo’s decisions much either. But he’ll pay us to protect him. So long as we keep him alive, we have income.”

Naruto turns his attention back to Eizan. What their stories have to do with this guy touching Hinata, he still hasn’t figured out. But he’ll let Eizan explain.

“I never had a family. The Guardians are my family.”

That’s something Naruto can understand. Still doesn’t excuse the guy from touching and insulting Hinata.

“My family has no room for _secrets_.” This time Eizan’s eyes gain a fire that wasn’t there before. “What are two _Konoha shinobi_ doing here?”

Hinata answers quickly, knowing these men are certainly sharper than they initially seemed. This confrontation was all a ploy to get them to reveal themselves. “We wanted to gain insight on affairs outside of Konoha. Our actions are limited within the village’s walls, we’re under constant surveillance. We only interact with other Konoha citizens and the occasional visitors or people we meet on missions.”

“For a Hyuuga to say that, certainly that makes sense,” Hukukane responds. “We figured that. They say clan lives are stuffy.”

“Naruto-kun,” Hinata tries again.

He lets his rasengan disperse. He lets a second pass before he finally steps back, closer to Hinata than before.

“Relax, Naruto,” Eizan starts. “None of us are stupid enough to touch _your_ woman.”

She can’t help the reactive heat that touches her cheeks, even though she knows the obvious implication completely flew over Naruto’s head.

A glance over, and she can see only a contemplative distrust on his face.

“Sealed a goddess, ended the world war, master of the Kyuubi, next in line to be Hokage? We couldn’t think of any logical reason for someone like you to leave Konoha to join us,” Eizan continues, suddenly conversational.

“But love can make even someone like Naruto make irrational decisions,” Geiiro barks out with a laugh. “You two don’t have to keep your relationship a secret.”

“What?” Naruto asks, trying to catch up with the shift in atmosphere.

Hinata flushes even worse than before. She thinks to correct them, but that would only earn worse scrutiny on their reasons for joining the Guardians.

They can’t let them know they’re here on a mission. Any one of them could be another spy for the insurgents.

So...maybe she needs to play along. Even if it’s mortifyingly embarrassing.

She just has to make sure Naruto understands, too.

She swallows her own fears. And steps up to him.

She has to choose her words carefully. She still doesn’t know what abilities the other Guardians might have.

She closes her hands around her mouth, leaning in toward his ear, knowing it’ll look intimate to the others.

“Hinata?” he asks, finding her pressing against him.

“They know we’re _lovers_ ,” she whispers.

“W-what?” He steps away, eyes wide. “Hinata-”

She grabs his hand with both of hers, keeping him from backing away too far. “It’s okay. It’s _better_ if they know.” She looks hopefully into his eyes. Hoping that he catches on. Hoping he doesn’t say anything in denial.

He just stares at her, mouth wide open, attention shifting down to her hands firmly around his. She’s acting really touchy with him. She said they’re lovers when they’re not. _Hinata doesn’t usually act like this, so why-_

“You really don’t have to hide it. We don’t operate on the same rules as Konoha,” Tacchi explains.

She nods, pretending to agree with him. She blushes harder with what she wants to say next. But she has to make him _understand_. “Naruto-kun,” she calls, as sweetly as possible. It sounds so embarrassing. Like she’s really trying to catch his attention.

He looks back up at her, eyes growing wider still at her flirtatious tone of voice.

“This way, maybe we can spend _more time_ _together_...” She looks as meaningfully as she can into his eyes. “...alone,” she adds on, in a whisper.

The other Guardians start laughing and hooting.

She’s flaming red, she knows, she doesn’t remember the last time she felt so hot.

He can see the vibrant color on her fair skin, but he can also feel the searing heat pressing into him from her hands. He realizes she’s incredibly embarrassed. She’s not under some genjutsu or trying to play a trick on him. She’s _pretending_. So that they can meet to talk about their mission. “A-aah, yeah!!” he stutters out, embarrassment belatedly catching up with him. “W-whatever you want, Hinata!”

“He’s whipped!” hollers Geiiro. “Poor boy’s got it bad!”

She smiles in relief, trying to ignore the teasing of their new comrades.

He looks down, suddenly _very, very_ conscious of her hands around his.

She lets go of him quickly.

“You two can hold hands!” Geiiro continues, laughing harder and harder.

Hinata shakes her head furiously. She got her point across, and she needn’t embarrass either of them any further.

And by Naruto’s blushing grimace, she knows she really embarrassed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story Notes:
> 
> \- Hinata whispers, "They know we're lovers." - It's more common in Japanese to say, "Koibito," which means people in love, "lovers," over "we're boyfriend and girlfriend" or "we're dating." I love how straightforward and to-the-point that is.
> 
> \- I imagine this takes place at the same time as Shikamaru's Blank Period Arc, "A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness."
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	2. Motives II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't stop myself from writing like this? This chapter sounds like nearly every single other story I've ever written? I had feelings of deja-vu on certain lines :/  
> But, I think I tried to write a more nuanced Naruto. Different layers of awareness of himself and others... I'm going for a more mature boy than in White Lilies and Nightdreams, still an awkwardly clueless boy, though haha. I think this version of Naruto might be closer to what I was trying to achieve in Nightdreams. We'll see how successful I am with it this time around...
> 
> Please enjoy the NaruHina fluff :)

Back at the apartments, they shut the door of Hinata’s unit, drop themselves into chairs, and simultaneously sigh heavily.

They look at each other, bewildered at their timing, embarrassed smiles cracking open at what they just went through.

“I’m sorry I left you hanging for so long!” Naruto starts.

“Oh no!” Hinata shakes her head in disagreement. She was just relieved that he caught on to her trick.

“I really had no idea what was going on there, like why they were being so confrontational, why that guy was picking on you-”

“It’s okay-”

“Why you were suddenly so close to me and holding my hand and stuff-”

Her cheeks heat up again at the memory. “I know! I’m sorry, I just wanted them to stop questioning us!”

Naruto works a hand over his face, trying to settle his deep embarrassment. “Yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t catch on quicker, oh man, I’m really sorry, Hinata.”

“It’s really okay, Naruto-kun.” She tempers her blush as best she can. “At least now we have an excuse to meet up often without drawing suspicions.”

“Yeah.” He nods, thinking about how the other Guardians didn’t question the fact that they left together. Just sent them off with snickers and sidelong glances. It was so embarrassing. “It’ll definitely make it a lot easier for us to plan and share information.”

They both nod, getting used to the idea that they are now a fake couple.

“Speaking of information,” Hinata says, finally getting a handle on herself, trying _not_ to think that she’s now _Naruto_ ’s fake girlfriend... “They told us their motivations for joining the Guardians.”

“Right. That’s a good place for us to start. That guy, Eizan.” He frowns at remembering how he jerked Hinata’s chin up, how he was looking at her. Even if it was all an act, it was a very convincing act. That still bothers him a lot...that's probably why he didn't catch on quicker to Hinata's plan... “He said he never had a family. That the Guardians are his family.”

Hinata nods. “That’s either a very good reason to want to protect his job, or a good reason to want to change things.”

“You’re right…” He really wouldn’t be surprised if Eizan is the rat. But he also recognizes that they got off on the wrong foot. He needs to try to be impartial in their investigation, no matter how much he dislikes the man. “We need to find out what happened to his family. It would be good if we can confirm the others’ claims, too. And we need to learn the other half of the team’s motivations.”

So they spend the next several days growing acquainted with the other Guardians. Besides, earth and fire-style user Geiiro, lightning-style user Tacchi, taijutsu specialist Eizan, and long-range wind-style user Hukukane, they meet the other six: Taiyou, Ryuu, Sandou, Kurikaero, Hioki, and Jin.

Through regular shifts, always in fluctuating twos or threes, almost never together, Naruto and Hinata make conversation with them and grow acquainted with their fighting styles during training.

Naruto gets them hooked into conversations naturally. He has something to bond in with everyone.

And unlike the first day, Hinata finds everyone trying to be kind to her. They’re the ones trying to make conversation with _her._

They send an initial report back to Konoha, asking Kakashi to do background checks on all of them with the help of the Anbu. Until they receive the report back, Hinata fields their questions, building up her own story for coming to join the Guardians.

 _“My father is too strict. I couldn’t live with him anymore.”_ Or _“I needed to get out, away from my clan. I wanted to see the outside world.”_ It’s an easy lie that the Guardians expected from her in the first place.

The men nod sympathetically, as if they understand, and so she says, _“I must sound so ignorant. It’s embarrassing. Thank you for being patient with me.”_

And they try so hard to assure her that she’s doing fine, that she _surprises_ them during each training match with her prowess.

She acts like it’s a compliment, smiling, like she has no concern for the fact that they thought she was weak.

The truth is that she knows she’s doing fine.

She knows she’s creating a false, sheltered image of herself. All of her targets on missions underestimate her, and she’s learned to weaponize that.

Feed their egos and ideas of her. Paint herself as non-threatening.

It’s not hard at all. Maybe annoying, but she expected all of this.

Naruto has an easy time, too, settling into the team of Guardians, until conversations steer toward Hinata.

Hioki and Jin, two who had been on duty once with her, pout longingly on their shift off in the break room.

“Ah, Naruto, you know how lucky you are?” Hioki asks, a question that doesn’t need an answer.

But Naruto honestly has never once felt lucky. So he responds with, “Huh?”

Jin laughs, completely understanding Hioki’s line of thought. “When Daimyo-sama told us who was coming, we _all_ got our hopes up. Maybe except Hukukane and Sandou. They’re both married.”

“Hopes up for what?” Naruto asks.

“Hinata,” they simultaneously answer.

His guard rises immediately. “...What about Hinata.”

“You know how frickin’ long it’s been since I talked to a girl?” Hioki asks. “Who’s not a prostitute?”

“Or some chick at a bar?” Jin adds on, sighing. “Who just wants to sweet-talk free drinks off of me?”

He frowns. Of course he doesn’t know. And he doesn’t _want_ to know any more on this topic. He shrugs.

“Too long,” Hioki continues. “Must be nice. Having a girlfriend.”

“And Hinata seems like an actual nice girl. I mean, picking up girls at the bar is fine on a weekend off, but...you know...civilian girls are different from kunoichi. It’s hard to relate to their lives.” Jin lies back on the sofa. “It’s always a one-nightstand. None of them want to wait around for someone in this profession.”

“...Oh.” Naruto’s the one who feels like he can’t relate. He hasn’t taken advantage of the girls around him in that way.

“Must be nice having a kunoichi girlfriend,” Jin continues, echoing Hioki’s earlier sentiment.

Hioki gestures out the window. “This place is like a frickin’ monastery. Not a woman in sight except for some desk clerks.”

“Well…” Naruto can’t quite place what’s making him _so uncomfortable._ _Why are they talking about this in front of me?_ “..Just...don’t touch Hinata.”

“Yeah, yeah, we all know she’s yours,” Hioki says, turning his attention directly at him.

 _“She’s yours.”_ It makes him feel like he possesses Hinata. A _strange, strange_ idea that makes him feel... _strange_. Eizan said a similar sentiment that first day, too.

“Yeah, she’s my girl.” He knows he sounded confident, but all he feels is the awkward lie. He inexplicably feels the need to apologize to her for these straight-up falsehoods. But he also feels like it’s necessary. Neither he nor Kakashi knew they were bringing Hinata into a pack of wolves.

“No need to brag, okay! We heard from Eizan and Geiiro that you freaked out when all Eizan did was touch her a little,” Jin fusses.

Naruto feels all reservations take pause. “Okay, no, he didn’t just touch her a little. He touched _her face_ and he called her a ‘pretty little princess,’ he-”

“Is _that_ what he said?!” Hioki snorts out a laugh. “She _is_ a pretty little princess. A pretty little princess who can obviously fight and handle if someone touches her a little. Dude, you _freaked_ out! About to fuck up Eizan's stomach!”

“I didn’t freak out!”

“Yeah, you are right now!” Jin laughs.

Why does he always feel like he’s two steps behind everyone else when it comes to this topic? “Well, if some guys you only recently met kept talking about wanting your girlfriend, wouldn’t you be getting mad?” The words are out before he even thought about it. But he feels like he completely nailed the strange discomfort of this whole conversation.

“We’re just teasing you, relax,” Jin says. “It’s interesting. You gave up, at least for the foreseeable future, your obvious path to being Hokage.”

“Even I don’t think I would do that for a girl as nice as Hinata,” Hioki adds.

Naruto stops to consider their words. He wouldn’t, either, right? If this wasn’t a mission, he would never join the Guardians. But he can’t say that. To these guys, he gave up that dream--they don’t know it’s _his childhood dream_ \--to stay with _his “girlfriend.”_ If he had a real girlfriend, a girl who would actually want to be with him...would he give that up-

“How long have you been together?” Hioki asks, interrupting his train of thought.

“Um.” He blinks himself back to the present. He has no idea. “I’ve known her since I was a kid.”

Hioki stares at him like his head’s not screwed on straight. “No, like how long have you been in a relationship with Hinata? Unless! Did you mean you’ve been-” He twists his middle and forefinger together. “-since you guys were that little?!”

“Oh, um.” The obvious answer is no, it’s a yes or no question, but now that he’s taking so long to answer, does that mean his answer has to be yes?! His mind flies through random intervals of time. “I mean, I guess, maybe...8 years?” He has no idea if that sounds ridiculous or acceptable, and this whole topic is messing with him.

“Eight years?!” Jin bolts up from the sofa.

...He guesses he chose a ridiculous answer.

Jin stares at him incredulously. “How old were you guys then?!”

“Uhh……….12?” _Aw_ _shit,_ _that really is ridiculous._ He wants to kick himself for choosing such a stupid age.

Both of them stare at him, jaws hanging off their faces.

It’s too late for him to take his answer back.

“No fucking wonder you followed her here. Damn.” Jin lies back down on the couch. “Why haven’t you married her, yet?”

 _Uh…_ He has no idea. _Why_ haven’t _I married her, yet?? Whyyy did I choose 8 years??_

Hioki leans forward in his chair. “Is it because you had to keep your relationship a secret?”

He nods. He’ll take that answer. In fact, he can really run with it. “The Hyuuga clan would have never accepted me before the war,” he starts with as much seriousness as possible. “I was the village jinchuuriki. Everyone hated me, and if Hinata’s father found out about us, he would’ve killed me.”

Hioki makes a sound of sympathy. “That must’ve sucked. What about now, though? Do they know?”

“We just...got so used to hiding it...we haven’t figured out a good time to...drop the news on everyone.” He grimaces, realizing that excuse sounded really flimsy.

Hioki’s brows scrunch together. “I can’t believe you hid it for so long. I mean, we figured it out before we even met you.”

“Uhh yeah. I can’t believe it either.”

“Maybe everyone knows already and is just waiting for you to say it yourself,” Jin suggests.

“Eight years is a long time,” Hioki reiterates. “People probably have figured it out already. Either way, you two should’ve gotten married by now. One of you could die tomorrow and leave the other in regret. You know, just seal the deal and to hell with what anyone else thinks.”

Naruto frowns, feeling a guilt for a wrong he didn’t even commit. It’s just an elaborate set of lies, but he feels guilty about this whole imaginary situation. What kind of loser must his imaginary got-a-girlfriend self be to not marry after 8 whole years?? 

“I’m assuming you want to marry her, right?” Hioki asks.

He feels a heat crawling up his neck. Marriage has never been in the cards for him, but in this scenario he created… “...Yeah.”

“What’s holding you back?” Hioki asks.

He drops his gaze to the floor, trying to make up some convincing reasoning, his mind carrying him to why he’s been holding back on accepting dates from any of the girls who have asked him out. “People still don't understand who I am, who Kurama, the Kyuubi, is. Few people have ever really seen me for me.” He thinks Hinata is among those few... “People might give her a hard time. I just don’t want to ruin a good thing.”

Hioki nods, brewing on his words. “You really love her, huh.”

“I love her a lot,” he simply affirms.

“Naruto! Damn!” Hioki exclaims, a bit of admiration in his tone evident. "That's awesome."

“Sounds so nice,” Jin verbalizes in a sigh, still stretched out on the sofa. “To declare that so easily about someone...I want that…”

Was what he said deserving of such reactions? Was it supposed to be hard to say?

Suddenly, the room feels stuffy, the heat at his neck doubling down.

Hioki turns his attention out the window once more. “Yeah...must be nice,” he echoes.

The longing in both of their tones is obvious.

And he can’t deny that their envy resonates with him. ...If all of these lies were real...

“Oh. I also just thought you should know, Naruto.” Hioki’s voice is softer now, slightly muffled as he talks to the window. “It’s not just us who felt that way...when Jin said we were _all_ hoping... Be vigilant for her. We’re all family here. But we’re all lonely, too.”

He hasn’t thought seriously about girls in awhile, not since his younger days when he went peeping at the public baths, worked on his Sexy Jutsu, and had a crush on Sakura. He’s been _aware_ of the attention from girls he’s been getting. It’s been more of a source of confusion than of entertainment in his daily life. He was _aware_ that Hinata’s the only kunoichi in the Guardians, that due to that, it must not be easy for her. But he had _no idea_ exactly how bad it might be for her.

When he meets up with Hinata later that night, he’s suddenly, incredibly, ridiculously conscious of the fact that she’s _a girl, a woman_. He knew that, obviously he knew that, and he’s known that for a long time now, but Hinata is most definitely someone of the opposite sex today, more than she ever was before.

Long, rich hair. Nice, smooth skin. Delicate eyebrows. Long lashes. Lean muscles. Small, soft figure. Proper, feminine speech. Demure mannerisms.

It’s the everyday Hinata.

Logically, he knows she looks and acts as she always does.

But to _those guys_? She must be like a drink of water in the desert.

To look at her, and get a sense of what she’s like for those parched bastards, it makes his chest heavy, anxious, almost paranoid for her.

“Are you okay, Naruto-kun?” She looks up at him, concerned about his periods of silence. Without his constant responses, she’s not even sure he heard her recap.

“Those guys, the other Guardians, they’ve been nice to you?”

Completely off-topic from the news of the daimyo’s upcoming trip to Kumogakure for the Chunin Exams…so, no, he wasn’t listening to her. But she nods. “Mhm. None of them have given me problems since that first day. Eizan-san and Hukukane-san are actually very respectful.”

That doesn’t make him feel better at all, even though he knows it should. “You shouldn’t get too close to any of them, Hinata.”

Her expression obviously communicates her confusion at his demand. “Naruto-kun, we spend all of our time together. I have to be friends with them, even if any of them could be the culprit.”

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t be friends with them. And you shouldn’t go anywhere alone with one of them.”

“We sometimes work in pairs,” she reminds him, starting to wonder if she can’t catch a break...not even with her crush. “What are you so worried about? I can take care of myself.”

“I know! I know you’re really, really, _really_ strong!” He tries to backtrack as quickly as he can. “That’s not what I mean! It’s just-” He huffs out a sigh, remembering his earlier conversation. “You know what Hioki and Jin told me today?”

She registers his uncharacteristic unease. His obvious discomfort from today’s events. “What did they say?” she asks gently.

“...All of them are desperate for a girlfriend.” _They all wanted_ you _when they heard you were coming._ He almost wants to tell her that. He doesn’t know if he should, or if he even _can_ verbalize that.

Her lips tighten into a contemplative frown. “I don’t think any of them would do anything to me, Naruto-kun. And even if one of them tried anything on me…” She smiles and shakes her head. She knows the unfortunate soul might just lose a limb, or something even more precious to a male. She knows how to use every single tenketsu on her body, after all.

“I know.” He knows she’s more than capable of handling herself. He just hated the warning Hioki gave him, even if telling him was actually a cool thing to do. “I’m sorry for even hinting that you can’t handle them because I know you can. I’m not worried about _you_ , really, I just...want you to be careful, okay?”

She nods, doing her best to allay his concerns. “I _am_ being careful around them.” She waits for her words to really sink in, for his expression to finally relax a bit. She decides to steer the conversation back on topic. “We just need to focus on our mission. The faster we determine if any of them are another informant, the faster we can return home.”

“Right.” He takes a deep breath, deciding to try to forget the earlier events of that day. “...Sorry….so what were you saying about the trip?”

She smiles, glad that he actually was listening, at least a little. “We need to let Daimyo-sama know how we want to team up. Per the Guardians’ work Agreement, only half of us will go on the long-term shift, while the other half get to take a break. Then on the next trip, the teams switch.”

“Well...if we can...we should go on the break first, right? That’s likely the most opportune time for a spy to meet up with his-” His memory flashes to Kakashi’s mission debrief.

“Last time, the spies were caught on the break,” Hinata reminds him.

“So they’ll probably be more cautious this time. ...We can have an Anbu team watch them. That would be easier than us trying to track where everyone goes during the break.”

Hinata nods. “They probably expect to be under surveillance this time and will act as unsuspicious as possible.”

“Then we should go on the work trip, yeah?”

“I think that would be our best option, too,” Hinata agrees. “And Daimyo-sama asked us if we have any preferences about who the other four will be.”

“Those background checks we requested should come back soon. Can he wait on the schedules until we get that report?”

She nods. “I think so.” She writes their decided response on an inconspicuous letter, their major method of communication with the daimyo.

That would close up what she needed to talk to him about for tonight, but she doesn’t want to be the first to say so. Then he would leave. And for a partnered mission, she really doesn’t spend as much time with him as she expected. With alternating schedules, sometimes she doesn’t see him all day and all night.

“Is that it, then?” he asks.

She hums an affirmation, trying not to sound sad. “That’s all.” She mentally prepares to say good night to him.

But he doesn’t stand up to leave. Instead, he looks extremely uncomfortable.

With the way he’s been acting all night to her, she can tell that something’s wrong. To encourage him to share his thoughts, she asks softly, “Do you have something you need to tell me?”

“Yeahhh…” He scratches the back of his neck, trying to gather courage to push through the awkwardness and tell her the story he strung together that day without her permission. “I don’t know if the others have asked you about...us? And our ‘relationship’?”

She shakes her head. “No one’s questioned me about it.”

“Okay.” _Good. That’s a relief._ “Hioki and Jin were asking a lot of questions, and I kinda just told them a bunch of lies about us.”

She blinks up at him, curiosity peaked, an embarrassed smile making its way to her cheeks. “What did you say?”

He can’t help smiling in embarrassment, too. “I told them we’ve been together for 8 years.”

As he expected, her eyes widen in shock. “Naruto-kun,” she starts, not knowing if she should laugh or scold him. “Eight years?”

“I know, I know!” he groans in regret. “It just popped out! Hioki was asking if we had been together since we were little, and I didn’t know if I should just go with that or not, so I just chose something in-between!”

She tries to stop, but she can’t. Silent giggles erupt into laughter. She can imagine how troubled he was, trying to make up something believable about them, only to still land on an outrageous idea, that, several hours later, is still troubling him! “I was only 11 years old!”

“And I was only 12! I was just a runt back then, like didn’t we only just graduate from the Academy at that age?? I couldn’t even clone myself at the time!” With Hinata’s laughter, it really starts to settle in how ridiculous his story was. “If anyone from back home heard this…” He shakes his head, knowing that _none_ of their friends would fall for such a stupid story. It’s lucky that none of the Guardians know what he was like when he was younger. “I was so embarrassing back then! Ah, who am I kidding, I’m _still_ an embarrassment.”

Hinata stops laughing for a second to scrunch her face up in disagreement. “No, you weren’t! And you _aren’t_.”

Naruto looks at her incredulously. “Hinata, Hinata,” he sighs in mock seriousness. “You don’t have to try to be nice to me all the time, I know what I was like, at least back then, I know no girl would’ve dated me.”

Instead of agreeing, she stares at him determinedly, pink filling in the peach of her cheeks. “...You! Were admirable! Even back then!” Each word forced out to smash down her bashfulness.

“Admirable at what?” he scoffs. “At causing a commotion? At making Iruka-sensei reprimand me?” He nods, feeling a tiny bit of pride in his childhood escapades. “I was pretty good at that.”

She pulls herself up, shaking her head in confusion at his self-deprecation. “Even back then I thought you were inspirational, Naruto-kun. You always faced forward, just like you do now.” She smiles, hoping he can see that she’s being sincere. “I always thought you were a great shinobi.”

Her words sound too self-assured to be lies. Cotton puffs in his chest, light and thick at the same time. He awkwardly grins, not knowing what to do with himself. “Aw geez, Hinata.” He has no words to deflect the praise, no words left to even gloat. “...That’s gotta be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” And he’s been hearing a lot of nice things recently, yet none of them seemed so...so real.

And he’s astonished at how _nice_ she is, at how nice she’s always been. He really lucked out on this mission, to get to do this one with her. He supposes that out of all of the girls he knows, Hinata’s the only one an 8-year long secret relationship would seem even remotely possible- “Oh. And our ‘relationship’ is a secret to everyone in Konoha. I haven’t married you yet because we haven’t figured out a good way to tell everyone. And we had to keep it a secret in the first place because I have Kurama in me.”

This time Hinata really does feel speechless.

“They were asking me why we weren’t married, yet, after 8 years,” he awkwardly explains.

“Oh,” she finally softly answers. She doesn’t know what else to say. She knows the villagers were terrible to him back then.

“Sorry,” he starts, suddenly uncertain at her lack of response.

She hums a disagreement. “That sounds...realistic, doesn’t it?... My family never let me talk to you.”

He nods silently, remembering all the parents who dragged their kids away from him at the playground, who avoided even walking near him on the streets. Hinata was just one of the many kids who was told to not even look at him.

She can see melancholy casting a shadow in his expression. She knows that even though everyone loves him now, that doesn’t make up for the treatment in his past. Nothing she says can erase that hurt, but… “I always wanted to talk to you when we were kids...I wanted to be your friend.”

He looks up, the clouds in his gaze chased away with honest disbelief. “Really?”

She smiles, nodding, embarrassed at the memories of her many failures to even say a single word of greeting to him.

He searches back into his own memories, trying his best to recall little Hinata. “You were really quiet all the time.” He peers at her analytically. “But I guess you wanted to be loud and brash like me, huh?” he jokes, only half-serious.

She scrunches her nose up, smiling. “Maybe I did…”

The idea of an energetic, troublemaking Hinata gets him cracking up in laughter. “I can’t even imagine it!”

She shrugs, smiling, unable to imagine it about herself, either.

“Ahh,” he sighs, calming down to a chuckle. “As fun as a noisy Hinata would be, I like you the way you are.”

She looks at him. For a moment, too amazed to respond.

She doesn’t know how he never holds things against her, against any of them. He could so easily question why she never tried to help him in his times of need, but, instead, he jokes.

Instead of blaming her, he laughs.

He builds her up unthinkingly.

It’s a warmth that glitters about her, within her, around him. She knows that he has no idea how his candid words light her entire world, open her up, and it’s the effect he’s always had on her.

“I like you the way you are, too," she murmurs. It’s so close to her truth, though they’re not exactly the words she really wants to tell him. Perhaps this mission will give her the confidence to finally confess, to finally be completely honest with him, to support and be there for him in the way he rightly deserves.

His blue eyes brighten, his head tilts slightly, as if he didn’t hear her right. “...Thanks.”

She smiles, happy that he’s happy.

He stands up. “Good night, then, Hinata.”

She nods, understanding that it’s getting late now. “Good night, Naruto-kun.”

He’s not exactly sure how he ends up back at his unit, puffy cotton steadily fuzzing up his chest.

Between her blushing gaze and his own blanking-out brain, he knows he must have said something to take his leave.

He doesn’t really care about what he said, though. He just knew he had to get out of her unit. He had to escape, of course politely, _but escape_ , because that’s what he always eventually does once the girls' attentions become too much for him to handle.

But this time, it’s not confused discomfort that follows him to the safety of his room.

He feels dizzy.

Breathless.

Collapsed on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, overwhelmed. Fantasy and reality blurring, he’s not sure if he imagined it all.

Unrestrained admiration...he’s seen that a lot recently.

But to get that from Hinata…someone who’s usually so reserved, fearless, and genuine!

It’s like a punch swabbed in pillows aimed straight through his chest. Everything thick, heavy, squishy, churning right down to his stomach.

Sick. But a flip-flopping sick.

He’s trying to breathe it out.

Trying to rapidly blink away her softly feminine smile, softly light eyes, softly pink cheeks--

He rolls over completely, face flat into his pillow, suffocating himself. _Hooohhh..._

His memory runs rampant in the dark of his mind’s eye.

 _“I like you the way you are, too.”_ With her softly gentle voice. Cutely smiling at him, so much care in her tone, earnest honesty, so bare and unaffected.

So real.

He smushes his face back-and-forth into his pillow as if lack of oxygen will calm the pressure in his chest and beat back the heat under his skin. _Hhhooh..._

 _“I always thought you were a great shinobi.”_ Always, like, she meant _always_.

_“I wanted to be your friend.”_

_“You were admirable even back then!”_

Her expression turned amusedly sneaky. _“Maybe I did.”_

_Hooohhhhh…_

His chest is aching, all the things, so, so, so many things she said, all of them burning him up like he’s about to explode.

He flips back over, gasping, the sound of his own labored breath finally starting to clear his mind.

“Hohh...hohhhh…” He shakes his head slowly, almost in disbelief. “Haahh, damn…”

He’s sweating. Blinking. Aware of himself, freaking out, in his room.

He unzips his jacket, throws it off onto the floor. Drags the chain mesh shirt off, too.

He closes his eyes, tuning in to how near he is to hyperventilating, trying to get his breath to pace and calm.

Logically, he knows he shouldn’t be reacting like this. Hinata didn’t intend to provoke this ridiculous behavior from him, this is just him, blowing things out of proportion now that he's overthinking it.

 _It’s not a big deal. It’s not a big deal._ Plus, she said everything so easily, like it should’ve been obvious-

His chest inexplicably tightens, heat dyeing his face. He plops himself back over on his stomach, pressing all parts of himself into his bed, dragging the blanket beneath him tight into his stressed hands for some kind of comfort, until his muscles are straining, his body screaming for air again.

He just turns his face to the side, breath rushing into his burning lungs. He relaxes his grip. He stares unseeing at the wall.

Suddenly exhausted.

 _Hahh._ _Hinata..._ He closes his eyes. _Hinata…..hahh…._

He holds his breath again for a second, then lets it out in a measured sigh.

Heartbeat receding from his ears, sinking back into his chest.

A smile he didn't know he had on this entire time, now hurting his cheeks.

He's okay.

He feels really good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a little more romantic action next chapter x)
> 
> And thank you for all of the excitement!!! It makes all of this so fun!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. Kiss Him Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time in a long time that the way the story unfolded turned out better than I originally imagined :) which just means my original idea was rather problematic x) I'm so glad that this is much better.
> 
> Please enjoy the NaruHina fluff!

They left for Kumogakure ten days in advance for the joint Chunin Exams.

Ten days of constant vigilance, watching for bandits or other criminals intent on attacking the daimyo’s entourage.

Once they all entered the foggy village high among the mountaintops, they could relax a little.

The Raikage has his shinobi posted in high-traffic areas, at the fanciest hotels where the daimyo are staying, and surrounding the meeting halls.

But for Naruto and Hinata, they both know they can’t let their guards down now.

Visitors from many different nations crowd the streets. Opportunities for a possible traitor to sneak away are high now that they are taking on 2-person shifts throughout their stay in Kumo.

At the top of their suspect list: Taiyou, a genjutsu-user who came from the same poverty-stricken village as one of the caught informants. Lightning-style user Tacchi, who never told anyone that his younger sister was currently a missing person. And Ryuu, an earth and water-style user who apparently caught the informants first.

They also chose Eizan, though his story held true. His parents were killed in the Third Shinobi War. He was then adopted outside of Konoha by old farmers, who have already passed. Naruto and Hinata discussed that Eizan, the unofficial leader among the Guardians, would be good at keeping the group together, making it more obvious if someone wants to do something else.

Naruto knows he’ll need to sleep with one eye open in case someone tries to leave in the middle of the night.

Except he finds himself knocking on the door of Hinata’s room, his own belongings in hand, trying to ignore the flip-flopping in his gut.

_“Oh, Naruto, you’re not gonna keep your stuff with Hinata-chan?" "You guys got in a fight or something?”_

...He had to awkwardly blame it on habit, grin really widely, and scooch himself out of the room.

 _This isn’t weird at all_ , he assures himself. He’s slept beside Hinata on missions before. With her teammates. Outside. Many times.

She answers the door. “Naruto-kun?”

“Uh, I kinda need to stay with you.”

She blinks once, realization hurtling into her. “O-oh, yes, come in.”

He enters her room silently and puts his stuff down.

They both stand there, eyes darting to the only bed in the room.

He panics for only half a second. He has the overnight shift, so he won’t be here anyway. “We can take turns?” he wonders aloud. “So while I’m on duty, you can sleep on the bed if you want.”

She nods a little too hard. “And while I’m on duty, you can sleep on the bed.”

They’re nodding to each other, glad that they easily came to a solution.

She inwardly takes a deep breath, trying to stay as calm as possible, trying to get some sense of how she normally is. “Naruto-kun, please go ahead and use the shower,” she invites.

He glances at the bathroom, where the light is already on. She was in the middle of getting ready before he interrupted her. “No, no, I’ll go after.”

“Are you sure?” she asks, knowing it’s customary for the men to go first.

“Yeah, I’m fine for now.”

She decides not to push it. “Thank you,” she says, probably a little bit too quietly. She grabs her whole bag and retreats to the bathroom as quickly as she can.

She stares at herself in the mirror. For some reason, she didn’t foresee any of this happening. But she needs to act like it’s not a problem. Otherwise, Naruto will feel like he’s troubling her when he’s not. She needs to act as _unbothered_ as possible.

She can do this.

She can act as she normally does.

So she makes sure to wash up as best she can, without going too fast or too slow. Too fast, and he’ll think he’s bothering her. Too slow, and he’ll wonder what’s taking so long.

She just has to act normal.

She quickly moisturizes, dresses, spreads a towel over her shoulders, and grabs the hairdryer to finish outside. “Naruto-kun?” she calls, opening the bathroom door. “I’m sorry to make you wait.”

“Oh, no.” He looks up at her from his seated position where he was tracking the movements of the other Guardians.

He tries to keep himself from staring.

He’s known for a long time now that Hinata turns pink easily due to her fair complexion, but he still wasn’t prepared for how shiny and rosy she would look. He stands to gather his things, averting his eyes, feeling like he saw something he’s not supposed to know. “I was just watching the others. It seems like they’re all just relaxing like us. I don’t think we have to worry about anything right now since we all just got here.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“I’ll go in now, then?”

“Mhm. I’m done.”

“Thanks.”

He steps in to the bathroom, taking notice of Hinata’s used towelette, a small tub of cream, and the hotel’s soaps. He idly remembers that she gave him some stuff like that at his own Chunin Exams.

Hinata’s been a good friend to him for a long time. Really since the Chunin Exams, she’s been a good friend. Maybe that’s why he chose 8 years? Maybe his subconscious just summed up the important years of their friendship.

He washes up, glad to be finally free of the grime of travel, thankful that he wasn’t on the first shift to watch the daimyo.

When he leaves the bathroom, patting off the humidity with a towel, the room’s noisy.

And her long hair is billowing out behind her.

A tool that he recognizes must be a hairdryer is in her right hand. Her other hand glides through her dark strands like they’re nothing more than water.

He puts his old clothes away, watching mesmerized.

Hinata realizes he’s staring. She shuts the machine off. “I’m sorry, it’s really loud.”

“Uh, no.” He notices that the top of her head is dry but the ends aren't. “It’s not bothering me at all!”

“Oh, then, I only have a little more to do. I’ll be done soon,” she says apologetically.

“Take your time!” he assures. “Really!”

“Okay, thank you, it won’t take long.” She turns back around, clicking the hairdryer on.

He guesses she must do this every time after she takes a bath. He’s never used a hairdryer in his life, never seen anyone use one for that matter.

But it’s something that she does. For her long hair.

...It seems unnecessary. Plain air can do the same thing.

But...it’s apparently something she likes to do.

Maybe all girls do it to be pretty like this.

He gets the feeling again that he’s seeing something he’s not supposed to know, but Hinata doesn’t really seem bothered by his presence.

She glances over at him and sees that he’s sitting on the bed now, still watching her. Not knowing what to think, nerves starting to rise, she decides to stop and let the air do the rest. “I checked the other room just a moment ago. Taiyou-san and Eizan-san are still there.”

He completely forgot about that for a second. Good thing Hinata’s a reliable mission partner. “Thanks. I think when we all go out to get dinner, that’s when we’ll have to be more observant.”

She nods. Their mission is only just getting started.

They head out with Taiyou and Eizan to a nearby bar. It’s not the kind of environment Hinata is used to at all, since she’s still underage in the Land of Fire.

But here in the Land of Lightning, she isn’t.

“Hinata-chan, you’re 19 right?” Eizan calls, sliding the drink menu across the table to her. “How about ordering a drink since you can.”

“Umm…” She will still have to be alert for tonight. “Maybe not this time. This is a work trip after all.”

“You Konoha shinobi are so uptight,” Taiyou observes aloud, looking at both her and Naruto, who hasn’t touched the drink menu either.

“Yeah,” Eizan agrees. “You guys don’t know since it’s your first work trip, but these are the most lax jobs for us. We just have to be on our game during the transitions and traveling. Especially in a village like Kumogakure, the shinobi here are good. They’re tough. We don’t have to worry.”

Taiyou nods in agreement. “Kumo is one of our favorites to travel to these days, even though in the past they did all kinds of shady things against Konoha.”

“Ahh, ah, that was _you_ , wasn’t it!!” Eizan says, eyes wide in realization, staring at Hinata.

She doesn’t give any reaction because it wasn’t a question.

Naruto looks between them, not knowing what Eizan's accusing her of.

Eizan looks at Naruto, pointing a finger at him. “And...your mom, the previous jinchuuriki, got almost kidnapped, too.”

Naruto’s mind races to catch up. “I knew that my mom….” He looks back at Hinata, trying to connect the threads. “You got kidnapped?”

“I was really young,” she offers in affirmation. It’s an event she’d rather not talk about. Or, more like, she just _can’t_ talk about it.

“You didn’t know?” Taiyou asks him.

And he’s speechless. No, he didn’t know.

“I-it’s okay, Naruto-kun, I don’t really like to talk about it. It happened a long time ago.”

Taiyou and Eizan look down at the food menus.

 _“Eight years together.”_ And he didn’t know until now? Hell, even if they weren’t in a relationship (which they aren’t), but even so, just as friends, why didn’t he know?

He considers her as one of his most important friends. She knows so much about his past...and he can’t say the same for her… He looks at Hinata, trying to form appropriate words, trying to push past his clamoring feelings of inadequacy. 

“Excuse me, waiter!” Eizan calls loudly. His voice dominates the table as he orders drinks and food for everyone. “The drinks are on me,” he assures with a wink. “The two of you have some talking to do later on, and maybe some alcohol can loosen you guys up!”

Hinata and Naruto are pulled back to the present. To their secret mission. But their senpai in the group just bought drinks for them, and social code obligates them to at least humor him a little.

“Don’t worry about the guard duties for now,” Taiyou says.

Naruto looks at Hinata.

“I think I’ll be fine with just a little,” she murmurs to him.

“Relax! Enjoy this trip!” Eizan says meaningfully. “And with the international peace, the chances of something happening to our daimyo is very low. Both of you are always so uptight. It’s okay to prioritize your relationship once in a while.”

Naruto’s never been described as “uptight” in his life. Now, Taiyou and Eizan both described him that way. He doesn’t know what to make of it. He guesses he hasn’t been as silly as he usually is, being on an undercover _mission_ and, most of all, being that his partner is Hinata, he just needs to be better than he usually acts... He ducks down to Hinata, whispering, “Yeah, it’s okay. I’m on duty later tonight, so you don’t have to worry…” _and you can sleep if you need to._ He can just keep watch over the other Guardians at the same time. He hopes his thoughts somehow translated to her.

She nods, giving him a little smile as thanks. She turns back. “Thank you, Eizan-san. We’ll talk about it later.”

He grins at them. “Just trying to help. You two make a cute couple.”

She ducks her face, hiding her silly blush. She squeezes her eyes shut, willing herself to calm down, telling herself that this is all _for the mission_.

She peeks up at Naruto, who’s shyly watching her.

Meeting her eyes, he grins despite the pinching in his gut. “We work well together. Yeah, Hinata?”

She nods, caught up in his gentle warmth, wondering if he’s ever thought of them as being anything more than friends. Even if he hasn’t, she hopes that when she finally confesses, he’ll consider her seriously. Until that day, she’ll enjoy the effortless trust between them. She thinks, she hopes, that even if he rejects her, they won’t lose the friendship they have.

Eizan has the next shift with him, but Naruto notes that both Taiyou and Eizan aren’t exactly holding back. Getting drunk doesn’t rule them out from being traitors, but it does tell him they aren’t going to be able to act especially sneaky for the next couple of hours.

He keeps an eye on Hinata, too, who despite how careful she’s been in her own consumption, her usually fair cheeks have ruddied and a permanent little smile is stuck on her face. She’s still quiet compared to anyone else, but if anything, she seems more cheerful. And the other change is...she’s been looking up at him a lot.

So he’s compelled to look back down at her each time, to meet her happy gaze with a bemused one of his own, left wondering what she’s thinking about, or if she’s thinking about anything at all. He can feel the alcohol, too, fizzing under his skin, thumping in his chest, but concern for the mission and a rising sense of responsibility for her keep him somewhat tethered. “You okay?” he murmurs.

“Mhm.” She looks into his eyes, marveling at seeing her own reflection there. 

“She’s feeling it!” observes Taiyou with a laugh. “Is this your first time drinking, Hinata-chan?”

She shakes her head, still smiling. “I’ve had sake on special occasions before with my family, but not out like this.”

“Ahh,” Eizan voices, looking thoughtful. “Today’s a special occasion, too, then! First time drinking legally!”

“Mhm,” Hinata agrees easily.

“It’s good that you’re a smiler,” Taiyou laughs. “I have a friend back home, whenever she drinks, she starts crying. We try not to let her drink at all.”

“That’s like our friend!” Naruto adds. “Except whenever he drinks, even just the tiniest sip, he picks a fight with anyone. What’s worse is he’s literally impossible to beat. You can’t let him get anywhere near alcohol, otherwise he’ll bust the whole place down, no joke.”

She knows Rock Lee is infamous for his drunk behavior, but what she will always think about first is his constant encouragement to anyone, including even Neji when he was at his most unfriendly. She’s thankful Neji had a teammate like Lee. “Well, when he’s sober, he’s the best kind of guy you could ever meet.”

For a split-second, he thinks to agree, but, “Wait, _I’m_ not the best guy you’ve ever met?”

Eizan and Taiyou burst out in raucous laughter.

His stupidly thoughtless question rings in his ears. He wants so badly to take it back when he sees Hinata turn to him, her eyes as wide as pearlescent saucers, her mouth fallen open.

“Oh Naruto-kun, you _are_!” she assures, emotion welling up in panic.

“Uh, no, I know I’m not-”

“No! You _are_ the best guy I’ve ever met! Really!” she presses, trying to get him to meet her gaze.

“I really didn’t mean it-”

“Naruto-kun,” she begs in a whisper. She can’t fathom how she could let him doubt himself for even a moment. Her hand rises on its own volition, cupping his cheek, trying to encourage him to face her.

But he feels sickeningly embarrassed. His eyes meet hers for a beat only to dart away. “H-hinata,” he stutters. “It’s okay, I was just kidding-”

“He’s so hurt!” Taiyou howls in laughter.

“Better kiss him to make him feel better!!” Eizan teases, hand slapping his own face in his mirth.

Naruto looks mortified with himself, an uncertain expression she’s never seen on him before.

Doesn’t he know how special he is to her, far, far beyond anyone else?... She realizes, in horror, that he really _doesn’t._ And she can’t think of any solution that would better convey her sincerity. She grips his arm, pulling herself up slightly, tilting his head toward her, the burn over his birthmarks meeting her lips.

She closes her eyes, letting herself linger.

Naruto feels like all the air got sucked out of the room. Pure shock has him turning his face, only to see her shift down, only to feel her soft lips again, lightly caress, then gently press right above his jawline, warm and so close to the corner of his mouth.

She settles back, trying to gauge whether it worked or not.

He stares at her, at her lips that were just on him, lungs suddenly malfunctioning in uneven, struggling breaths.

She thinks it’s good that at least now he’s looking at her.

She blinks once.

Twice.

_I just kissed him. On his face I just kissed him on his cheek, on his cheek twice on his face-_

_I kissed him._

Realization has her speechless; she stares back at him with an increasingly gaping expression. She opens her mouth to apologize when Taiyou’s and Eizan’s cheers about how cute they are barge into her panicked mind, and she realizes like another clap of thunder over the rapidly brewing storm in her soul that she _can’t_ apologize with them watching, she has to somehow act like she meant it all to happen because as his “girlfriend,” she was initially just trying to---

“N-naruto...kun?” she tests in a whisper, unsure of what worse could possibly happen to her now. “Y-you’re the...best guy-” Her voice is so small she can barely tell the difference between her words and her breath, and she doesn’t think she can possibly go on…

But his piercingly blue eyes are fixed on her like he’s not registering anything else in the bar.

And her heart stutters harder than her childhood speech disorder, yet she manages, “-I’ve ever met…” She wants to curl up into herself and die.

“DAMN IT!” Taiyou pounds the table, making both of them jump out of their skins. He stands and points at them. “You fucking cute couple! I’m going to get laid.” He hurriedly throws money down on the table as Eizan bemoans the fact that he has to work tonight, and starts to head out of the restaurant.

“Yeah,” Eizan drawls. “We better get going.” He starts taking out his money as he calls for the waiter.

Hinata watches Taiyou disappear from sight, and anxiety grips her.

She looks to Naruto, the alarm in her expression hopefully enough to pull him out of his shock, though she really can’t blame how out-of-sorts he is after what she just did.

When he doesn’t seem to register the current circumstances, her mind races for any excuse that would let her follow the Guardian who escaped their sight. “...Eizan-san, please go ahead. I think we’re not ready to leave.”

“Hm? Oh, right, right, you guys need to talk about stuff.” He drops some money on the table. “Oi, Naruto-”

He manages to turn his attention to Eizan.

“Don’t be late, got it?”

Naruto nods out of habit.

Eizan starts heading out of the restaurant.

 _Byakugan._ She activates her bloodline, frantically sorting through the crowds, finally zeroing in on Taiyou meandering down the street.

Naruto blinks himself into awareness, realizing that they have no idea where the suspects of their mission went. “Hinata,” he calls, half of him seriously worried about the situation, the other half tipping back toward delirium.

“I have a lock on Taiyou-san,” she starts. “I’ll follow him. Naruto-kun, please follow Eizan-san.”

“Yeah,” he responds, unable to control how stupidly breathless he sounds.

She knows he’s probably waiting for some kind of apology or explanation, but the longer they linger in the bar, the farther the others get. And, honestly, she knows that she can’t possibly handle a rejection from him right now.

Her heart’s not prepared at all.

She fumbles out enough money for their share of food, and they scooch out of the booth.

They part ways at the door, tracking their targets in opposite directions.

He follows Eizan back to the hotel, where he heads straight to his room.

So Naruto heads back to his own room, settling on watching Eizan, Taiyou, and Hinata from afar, trying to calm an adrenaline rush unlike anything he’s ever had before.

Like he’s constantly trying to breathe around the sweetest words he’s ever heard.

Like he’s repeatedly swallowing down a swollen pressure gripping his heart.

His body yearns for a gentle weight against him.

His cheek tickles with an otherworldly touch, one that’s soft, hot, _intended_ for him.

He keeps falling out of Sage Mode, again and again.

It’s only when he realizes Taiyou is in close proximity to someone with a very weak chakra signature does he really try to force himself to pay attention.

Hinata is unmoving in his mind’s eye. She’s obviously observing the two.

Imagining her breaks up his concentration.

He can’t be like this.

He can’t work like this.

And he needs to get to his shift.

He pushes himself into motion, trying to focus just on Taiyou. This could be an exchange of information for all that he knows, and he needs to be ready to help at any moment should Hinata need him.

While he’s on his shift, standing guard near the daimyo’s room with Eizan, he notices Taiyou’s chakra fluctuating a bit, like a streetlight about to go out.

Hinata remains in her same spot as before. She hasn’t moved at all.

Taiyou’s chakra suddenly surges wildly like a detonated flash bomb, then just as suddenly, quiets down to normal.

Hinata remains completely still, but she's fine.

His brows furrow, trying to make sense of it.

“What’s up,” Eizan asks, his guard raised.

He doesn’t know if he should tell him. “Nothing, there’s no threat.”

Eizan lowers his guard. “You look like you sensed something.”

He’ll just fudge the truth a little. “Taiyou’s not in your guys’ room.”

“Yeah. He said he was gonna go get laid.”

He frowns, realizing exactly what he was just focusing on.

Meaning Hinata was, too. Watching. With her Byakugan. That whole time.

Heat rises to his face, and he hopes that Eizan can’t tell.

“What, you noticed him fucking?” Eizan asks, voice quiet but full of amusement.

“I didn’t mean to!” Naruto defends awkwardly. “I just didn’t know where he went at this time of night.” And accidentally peeping on Taiyou is honestly not what has him hot under the collar.

Eizan silently laughs. “Damn Naruto, you sure act innocent sometimes.”

Naruto shakes his head, opting to answer with silence because Eizan is far from the truth.

The truth being that he's always been just another guy who laughs at lewd humor, who enjoys looking at a curvy body, and has imagined doing more despite having so little experience.

He doesn’t know how he’s going to be able to look at Hinata during the shift change. He doesn’t think he’ll even be able to handle being next to her during their joint off-shift, he doesn’t know what he’ll say, how he’ll act.

If he’ll even be able to get intelligible words out!

If he’ll even be able to look at anything but her lips!...

He can't even think about _her_ , really, because he keeps thinking about...

There’s no way he can do this mission without acting like a fool.

But he has to.

He has to act like he has himself together.

He has to be reliable and confident.

He has to…

He has to get her to kiss him again.

She can’t sleep.

Even though the other Guardians are dead-asleep, their pulses and energy too even to possibly be faked, she can’t relax.

If she had to rank nights according to terrible-ness, this one is up there in the top.

Practically confessing her feelings about Naruto in front of Eizan and Taiyou in a bar.

Kissing _Naruto_ _in public_ for _her first time_. She can’t live with herself.

And then to top it all off, she wants to claw her eyes out for seeing too much information about Taiyou.

She didn’t even watch the entire time, but she had to check for _Are they done, yet? Oh, no._

Minutes later, check again. _Are they done now? No??_

She thought drunk hook-ups were supposed to be quick, messy affairs, but she ended up sitting outside on a distant enough rooftop for nearly an hour with just her self-loathing to pass the time.

And here she is in bed, awake, as if she didn’t already scold herself enough.

She doesn’t know how she can face Naruto in the morning, what she’ll tell him, how they’ll continue working together from here on out.

What if he starts acting distant toward her?

What if he’s creeped out by her?

She wants to take it all back.

Take it all back…

She can remember his skin on her lips. His golden tan, warm and giving.

His handsome face and solid arm in her hands.

His scent, not so much a smell, but a calming aura that filled her senses.

It’s what she always dreamed of.

It was everything, _he_ was everything, better than she ever imagined.

But.

Not anything close to in _the way_ she wanted.

And now she wishes that none of it happened.

She shoves tight fists against her face, frustration and regret creating an unbearable turmoil that makes her grit her teeth, her skin burn up with shame.

She wants to scream!

Yet she keeps it bottled up inside, the pressure making her rattle until she lets it all out in one horrid breath, her fists pounding into the bed with an audible **_thump_**.

Unshed tears bead hot around her eyes even though she knows she doesn’t deserve to feel sorry for herself.

What has she done? Why did she do that?

What could Naruto possibly be thinking?

...It’s not fair at all.

Not fair at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


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